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Hello there!

The social media space has, as usual, been abuzz with new developments this month, and here we are bringing you all the stuff you need to know. Facebook’s focus has been on enabling people to do more good, while it’s also surging forward in the area of virtual reality. Twitter is trying to cope and grow at the same time. And LinkedIn is trying to be a little less irritating this time around by making major changes to how it sends out notifications. We’ve launched paid plans to add more features, making DrumUp that social media assistant you’ve always wished you had. Get the juice on all those stories below, and remember to write back to us – if you’re working on some Holidays’ special social campaigns, we’d love to hear more.

1. Facebook launches its first cause-focused product – dedicated Fundraiser pages for nonprofits

Non-profits will now be able to better leverage Facebook for their fundraising campaigns, after the social media giant announced the launch of its Fundraiser page earlier this month. It also made changes to how its Donate button works. While the button only appeared on ads up until now, you’ll soon start seeing the button on all non-profits’ posts and pages. Similar to Events, Fundraiser will let you describe your campaign, collect donations and also share your success with followers through the progress bar. Both features are being tested with the Pages of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Mercy Corps and World Wildlife Fund. Visit the company’s dedicated Fundraiser micro-site to sign up.

2. iPhone and Gear VR users can now experience 360-degree videos on Facebook

Facebook launched the 360-degree video experience for web and Android users back in September. The social media platform has now extended the experience to iPhone, Gear VR and a few select consumer cameras. The step is pushes forward Facebook’s focus creating virtual reality experiences for its users. The company has also launched a dedicated site for those who may want to improve on these videos. Brands such as Corona, Samsung and Disney have already hopped on to the VR wagon with 360-degree video ads. Here’s one from Nescafe.

3. Facebook testing new search feature within individual profiles

Facebook is testing a new search feature that will let you find mentions of specific words within a person’s profiles. The feature will only scour posts that you’re already allowed to see and return relevant results. So those who’ve been blocked from seeing certain posts will still be restricted from accessing such posts. Only a few select people are part of the pilot program and official roll-out may or may not happen, depending on the feedback it receives. Read the report by Mashable.

4. Twitter shifts from stars to hearts

You’ve probably already seen it, used it, and as Twitter hopes, are it. At the beginning of November, Twitter changed the Favorite symbol on its platform, and the new ‘hearts’ are now called Likes. The original star symbol was officially killed, and as you could expect some Tweeters were a little less than happy with the change. But it’s said that the test-run for hearts was rather successful, and user profiles with hearts enabled at the time used them more frequently. Here’s Twitter’s official announcement of the new feature.

5. Moving on: The Twitterverse needs more than hearts

A couple of weeks after Twitter replaced stars with hearts, developers at the micro-blogging site were busy at work coping with the not-so-encouraging reactions they received to the latest change. After some users pointed out that the heart may not always be the most appropriate reaction to a tweet, Twitter is working on giving users more ways to express themselves. The new emojis were forst noticed by a Twitter user, _Ninji. Casey Newton of the Verge asked Twitter for a comment on the news and they had a rather interesting response – see it here.

6. That blue dot on Moments will appear less frequently, phew!

While a blue dot may seem rather harmless to non-Twitter users, it’s been driving some active Tweeters up the wall, as they feel compelled to check those fresh notifications on the Moments tab within the app. With some users suggesting that Moments itself is a rather useless addition, the constant blue dot has caused more annoyance. After several of them complained, Twitter announced that it will reduce the frequency of those notifications. However, it didn’t say how or when. Meanwhile, here are a few suggestions on how you can get rid of notifications on Moments yourself.

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7. LinkedIn working on new notifications platform

After a class action suit led LinkedIn had to cough up $13 million owing to its excessive emails, the company is building a new notifications platform. Christened the Air Traffic Controller (ATC), the company says it has reduced emails by 50 percent. ATC will use algorithms to understand, when and from where users are checking notifications, and will align how they notified accordingly. In effect, you will receive notifications less frequently, and they’ll be more relevant to your interests. While there isn’t much clarity on how exactly that’s going to happen, here’s what LinkedIn has to say.